Chinese woman jailed by Irish court for not carrying ID
A Chinese woman, who claimed she came to Ireland to have “more human rights”, has been jailed for three months for being in the State without satisfactory identity documents.
The defendant, named in court as Yueqin Zheng (aged 21) with no fixed address, pleaded guilty to not having a valid passport or equivalent documentation to establish her identity and nationality, to the satisfaction of the immigration officer, at Dublin Airport, on June 19 last.
The defendant had been remanded in custody on June 20 last and appeared again at Dublin District Court today.
The Garda National Immigration Bureau had contacted Chinese authorities but they could not verify an identity card she had used, Judge Denis McLoughlin was told.
Defence solicitor Alice O'Reilly told Judge McLoughlin that her client maintained that her passport had been lost.
Ms O'Reilly told the court that the defendant had come to Ireland with friends.
“She felt that she would have more human rights in this country,” the solicitor said, adding that her client has applied for refugee status.
Judge McLoughlin noted that the defendant had no prior criminal convictions. He imposed a three-month term on Zheng, which was backdated to June 20, when she first went into custody.
He set appeal bail terms in her own bond of €100 and stipulated that there would have to be an independent surety of €1,000.
“I have required an independent surety because the court cannot be satisfied as to the identity of the defendant,” he said.
